


Return of the Cockroach

by SkipBack



Series: Scenarios Timeline [1]
Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Sadness, Then fluff, help my dibs they are a mess, mainly angst because you know me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:28:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25006936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkipBack/pseuds/SkipBack
Summary: An interesting version of Dib returning to the Zimvoid.
Series: Scenarios Timeline [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1790731
Comments: 5
Kudos: 36





	Return of the Cockroach

**Author's Note:**

> **!~ NOTES BEFORE YOU GET INTO THE STORY ~!**
> 
> _Return of the Cockroach_ is a story within the "Zeisty's Big Book of WHAT IF Scenarios" series, and though I have already written Dib coming back for Zib in the Zimvoid King AU, I came up with a different version I wanted to write about.
> 
> Really, my brain was like "what if this" and gave me tons of ideas that sold me. 
> 
> **!~ AND THAT'S ALL YOU NEEDED TO KNOW. ENJOY THE STORY :D ~!**

This was a bad idea, but there was no turning back now.

Stepping onto the rocky gray ground of the "Zimvoid," Dib Membrane tried to beat down his anxiety. He hadn't been sure it would even still be here, but it was. The asteroid of what all was left of this timeline, right down to the odd tower that loomed up into the sky, was still here. The zapper was even still destroyed. Of course, that meant if this timeline was still here almost exactly the way it was when he left it, then _he_ would probably be here as well.

The reason for Dib's trip back to the Zimvoid.

Honestly, he had no idea why he was going back for his alternate. He'd essentially caused the destruction of the majority of his universe, and probably would have destroyed Dib's if it hadn't been for... Zim's interference. The other Dib clearly hadn't cared about destroying his own universe and obviously wouldn't care if Dib's universe was destroyed as well, but Dib had been thinking about the last thing he'd ever heard from his alternate a lot lately.

_"You can't leave me here all—"_

Dib wasn't sure if he had said "all by myself" or "all alone," but Dib suspected it was one of those two. Maybe that was why he was going back for his alternate. Because he understood, and maybe some part of him felt bad for leaving his alternate completely alone.

Dib took a deep breath, trying to loosen the tightened feeling in his chest as he forced himself to make his way to the tower. Six months since they had seen each other face to face. But that meant his alternate had been on his own all that time, so Dib was almost afraid what he was like now, or how he'd react to seeing Dib again. Really, all Dib could hope was that he wasn't terribly unpredictable, in case they ended up having to fight.

The gate to the tower was still... uh, "wide open," which Dib found made him more nervous than not. Would he still even be in here? What if he was somewhere else in the Zimvoid? Dib looked over his shoulder, half expecting to look into a pair of yellowed eyes behind him.

Nope.

Dib sighed in bittersweet relief, but he barely managed not to gulp when he noticed that the door to his alternate's... throne room didn't have an energy field anymore. If Dib wanted to, he could walk up those stairs and walk right in that room.

His eyes flicked to the right side of the doorway, his heart in his throat. It could have been his paranoia acting up, but Dib was pretty sure he'd just seen something... moving.

Dib almost didn't want to head up there. But despite all of his instincts screaming not to walk up to that door and step inside, to instead run back to the whirring blue portal he'd came through and never return to the Zimvoid ever again, Dib slowly and steadily found himself making his way there anyhow. Fear and anxiety running through his veins, Dib popped his head into the room first, checking his surroundings.

Surprisingly, he didn't see the robotic Zim suit he remembered his alternate sporting. Speaking of his alternate, he didn't see him either. Which was worrying. Either Dib's paranoia was causing his mind to play tricks on him, or... he didn't dare finish that thought.

Dib carefully stepped all the way in the room. The room barely had anything in it anymore, save for the reddish-purple throne and the red pillars of light that stood on either side of it. But where was...?

Dib yelped and whirled around as the sickly green energy field behind him suddenly jumped to life. His blood ran cold as he heard a familiar voice chuckling to himself, feeling as though he was freezing as he turned back to face the throne. A lump formed in his throat as a certain someone stepped out from behind it, wielding a rather frightening futuristic gun.

"Why, hello there, _Dib_ ," Zib spat as he pointed the gun for Dib's head, the same far too wide smile Dib remembered seeing on countless Irkens prior spread across his face. "Fancy seeing you here! Good to see you haven't up and forgot about me."

He looked like he hadn't slept in days. Though despite his unkempt hair, enormous dark bags under his eyes, and paler-than-usual skin, Zib was clearly anything but tired. A wild intensity was in his eyes, his jaw set with determination. He looked like he could take the entire Irken Empire head on with nothing but his bare hands.

"I bet you're wondering why I'm here," Dib started, raising his hands in surrender.

"I could honestly care less!" Zib said, surprisingly cheerful. "Besides, with you here, I finally have the chance to test my latest creation on a _live_ target."

The end of the weapon brightened, a blue light glowing with the possible threat of laser fire. As the weapon charged up, Dib couldn't help but keep his eyes at the light as Zib walked over to him, his smile pulled back to the gums.

"Say goodbye to that stupid head of yours, Dibstink!" Zib said, pulling the trigger.

At that exact second, the light went out. The gun didn't fire. Zib pulled the trigger again, a dumbfounded expression on his face. "No, no, no," the other hissed to himself as he kept repeatedly trying to pull the trigger. "Calm on, you stupid thing! Work!"

Zib growled and punched the top of the blocky weapon. In response, the gun sparked, sizzling and smoking.

Zib was forced to throw the weapon, which exploded while it was still in the air. Parts of the gun flew all over the room, a couple of them even flying into the energy field.

Looking back to Zib, Dib wasn't sure what to think of what he was seeing. His alternate was staring at the spot where his weapon had exploded as though it would reverse what had happened, his shoulders slumped and his expression crestfallen.

When it seemed to hit Zib his weapon wasn't going to magically fix itself, the other Dib wailed as though his heart had been ripped out and stomped on. Zib flopped down on his face, crying his eyes out.

"Uh..." Dib said. How suddenly Zib had fallen into despair had given him whiplash; he wasn't sure what to say.

"Everything I do is pointless!" Zib sobbed. "I'm a failure! Everything keeps 'sploding and it's all because of _meeeeeee-heeeeeee-heeeeeeeeeeeee_!"

"Uh," Dib said again. Well. So maybe Zib _did_ care about what he'd done. "Okay, um... Z-Zib?"

As soon as the name was spoken, Zib began to wail even harder. Right. Zib didn't like being called "Zib." God, this reminded him of the time he'd had the misfortune of witnessing Zim schmooping. His alternate even rolled away in a similar fashion when Dib reached down to place a hand on his shoulder.

"Geez," Dib said. "And I thought..." He trailed off as Zib locked his eyes on him, not daring to finish that sentence out loud. He was going to say "And I thought Zim was bad," but he didn't know how horribly Zib would react if he heard that. "Okay, nevermind. I think you deserve to know why I'm here."

"Fine, I don't care," Zib said, his voice slurring. The bags under his eyes had seemed to deepen, his eyes heavily lidded. He'd went looking like he could take the Irken Empire all by himself to being barely able to take on a gentle little bumblebee.

Dib restrained himself from cringing. He could only imagine how deep in self-hatred and misery his alternate was.

"Y'know, you're probably not even real," Zib said. "I'm probably just imagining you. But whatever. Soul-crushing loneliness and hallucinations are a good form of punishment as any, since I get what I deserve, and this _is_ what I deserve."

Okay. Way deeper in.

Zib clutched at his head, the tears back in his eyes. "I think I just figured out why you're here," he said. "You're here to remind me that I should have kept an eye on that Dib, aren't you? Because it's _my_ fault he released the Zims. If I'd kept an eye on him instead of forcing him to mop, I wouldn't even be in this situation right now." He rolled over onto his side, repeatedly bashing the side of his skull into the metal floor. "Stupid, stupid, stupid... useless, worthless, big-headed _lunatic!_ Why can't I do _anything_ right?"

"Okay, I'm actually real," Dib said. "I, uh... I _am_ the same Dib from before. I'm here, and I'm real. If it makes you feel any better."

Zib stared blankly at him before a look of anguish crossed his features. "I just feel worse than I did before now!" he cried. He began wailing and sobbing all over again, curled up in the fetal position. In a record breaking time of three seconds, he was laying in a puddle of his own tears.

Dib sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. This was not what he was expecting would happen when he came back to the Zimvoid.

He waited until Zib stopped crying, laying limply and sniffling miserably in the puddle of tears, in order to speak again.

"Listen, I know you hate me for what I did, and I... I honestly don't blame you," Dib said. "But there is a reason I'm back."

"Is it to emotionally torture me to the point I'm a useless sack of organs?" Zib asked. He sounded dead, looking as though he could barely squish a harmless ant on his own. This was getting really bad.

"No," Dib said. "I came back because I want to bring you to my timeline."

"Geez, spare me my dignity why don't you," Zib said. "Yeah, let's bring me to the other universe I almost destroyed because of my reckless need to be the hero." He grunted as he forced himself to roll onto his back, his arms flopped out on either side of him. "Please tell me I at least managed to get you to stop trying to expose Zim before what happened to me happens to you. Maybe I'll feel a little better knowing I did at least _one_ thing right."

Zib heavily sighed at Dib's lack of a response. "Of course," the other said.

Dib had no idea what Zib meant by that.

"Look, I just feel bad about leaving you alone," Dib started.

"No. You don't," Zib said. "You think you do, but you don't. All you see is what little of you is in me. But I'm not just some regular ol' Dib anymore, oh no. I'm the one and only Zib. The merger. The Dib who became a Zim. That's all I'll ever be, just some worthless Zib man. And to think I used to pride myself on being the only Dib to defeat his Zim." He laughed, though it sounded empty and without meaning. "What a fool I was."

"Can you stop throwing yourself a pity party for one second?" Dib asked. "I know you did some horrible things, but I just... I want to give you a second chance. Worthless or not, nobody deserves this."

"You don't understand," Zib said. "You never have, never will. I fully deserve this. Just... go away. And leave me to my misery." He fished around for something in his pockets, pointing a remote at the doorway. Dib watched as the energy field went down. "There. You're free. Go. Let me rot in peace."

Dib paused. He was actually considering it; remembering his previous time in the Zimvoid, Zib had been nothing but... well, to be perfectly blunt, a real butthead. Plus, he probably had been seconds away from destroying Dib's universe, as well as being the cause for the destruction of his own. He probably did deserve this.

But this recent visit put that in a whole new light. After everything, Dib really didn't want to leave Zib alone like this. He'd feel bad about it, leaving Zib behind as an over emotional mess. He didn't deserve this.

Dib straightened, setting his jaw.

"No," he said.

Zib stared at him for a long second before forcing himself to sit upright with a groan. "That wasn't a suggestion," he said.

"I'm not leaving," Dib said. "Unless you come with me."

"And I'm staying here," Zib said, swaying on his feet as he stood up, hunched over. "So you're going to have to leave."

"No," Dib said again.

All at once, a new strength seemed to fill Zib. "LEAVE ME ALONE!" the other shouted, spindly legs emerging from his PAK as he lunged at Dib. Tears were still pouring from his eyes like twin waterfalls, streaking down his cheeks. "GET OUT! GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!"

Dib managed to dodge the attack, yelling back "NO!"

Zib screamed in rage, PAK legs trying and failing to slice at Dib. As well as that, he tried to claw at Dib, but kept getting angrier as he kept missing.

Fighting was a bad idea. If Zib thought he was a horrible person... well, why treat him like one? It would only make matters worse. He had to think of something Zib would never expect. He had to be unpredictable. Dib couldn't believe he was having this thought, but he had to think like Zim's robot.

What would GIR do? Probably something stupid. But other than something stupid and insane, what else would GIR do?

The idea smacked him in the forehead.

Which _also_ seemed like a bad idea, now that Dib was thinking about it. He'd normally never do something like this, but he'd seen it on a show once... it couldn't hurt to try, right?

When Zib began to tire, Dib saw his chance. He lunged forward, wrapping his arms around his alternate and squeezing as tightly as he could, his eyes squeezed shut.

In response, Zib screamed and tried pushing him away. "GET OFF ME!" he shrieked. "GET OFF! GET... g-get off... me... you're...." Dib heard his alternate's metallic legs retracting. "Y-you're...."

"I may not understand you," Dib said, keeping his eyes shut, "but I understand what it feels like to be alone."

He was hugging his alternate.

This was reality. A destroyed reality, but this wasn't going to fix anything. Sure it seemed like a good idea, and it seemed to work in the show he'd watched, but Zib wasn't stupid. Before he knew it, Zib would snap out of his daze and start clawing at him again, perhaps even using his PAK legs as laser guns (that was a thing they could do, right?) to shoot at Dib.

If he was going to die like this, he hoped Zib would at least show him enough mercy to make his death a quick and painless one.

But the attack never came.

Instead, Zib returned the hug just as tightly with a high-pitched whine, burying his face into Dib's shoulder. Not what Dib was expecting, but then again, he hadn't expected anything that had happened to go the way it did.

All he could really do was let Zib sob into his shoulder, clicking and chittering like a cat of some kind. Dib had no idea what Zib was saying, but his alternate was probably speaking Irken; he remembered hearing this when he arrived in the Zimvoid, from what he thought at the time were space bugs (he technically wasn't wrong; Irkens were bug-looking aliens covered in remarkably short fur).

"Why?" Zib eventually asked, his voice a hoarse squeak. He cleared his throat. "Why are you doing this?"

Dib looked his alternate in the eye. "Do I need a reason?" he asked instead.

Zib gave another hallow laugh. "I guess not," he said. He sniffled, placing his head back on Dib's shoulder. "Than.... thank you."

"What for?"

"For coming back for me," Zib said. "And for making me feel like a person again. I... I'm s-sor...." He sounded like he was a having a hard time saying it. "I'm _sssssssorry_. For... everything."

Dib was geninuely stunned at this point. "It's okay," he said. "Although next time, if you ever plan on apologizing again... don't hiss like a snake."

"You mean like _thisssssssss?_ " Zib said, stepping back from the hug. "Oh! Oh, what if I...." He smiled, putting a pair of his teeth over his lip, managing to go walleyed. " _Nyeh!_ "

Dib couldn't help but laugh at that. "Oh, hey Minimoose!" he said, unable to stop smiling. "I didn't expect to see you today!"

"Nyeh!" Zib said again, nailing a perfect Minimoose impression; if Dib closed his eyes, it was like the small floating purple moose was in the room.

Dib gasped dramatically, putting a hand on his chest. "Whoa! Language!"

That caused the both of them to burst out laughing. This time, there was nothing empty or meaningless or even evil about Zib's laugh. It was just it. A good ol' Dib laugh.

"Son!" a booming voice called in the distance, cutting their laughing fit short. Zib's smile faded, a look of disbelief and bewilderment on his face. "It's time to come home! The portal is only experimental and could create a black hole any second now!"

"Dad," Zib whispered. There was both longing and pain on his face.

"Yeah," Dib said. "So, you coming? Or are you staying? Don't think I'll be coming back here in a long, long time."

Zib rubbed his arm, then sighed. "I might as well," he said. "I think... yeah. I'll... I'll come."

On that note, Zib followed Dib out of the tower. His alternate looked back at his tower as the duo headed towards the portal.

"Y'know, in a weird way, I'm going to miss this place," Zib said.

"I'm not," Dib said. "I, uh... haven't been here long enough to form an emotional attachment to it."

"Ha! That's fine, I know you probably don't have the fondest memories of this place," Zib said, nudging Dib with an elbow. "Honestly, I don't have a lot of good memories surrounding this place either, but... once it's all said and done, that's all this place will be. Memories. Good or bad, I'll always have them, unless I decide to erase some of them, but..." He shrugged. "I'm keeping all of them. Even the bad ones."

"That is weirdly sentimental," Dib said.

Zib shrugged again, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Irken soda has the unusual side effect of making non-Irken drinkers have strange sentimentalities over the weirdest things," he said, almost automatically. "It's banned on seventeen planets outside of the Irken Empire in the majority of the multiverse, just for that reason."

Dib's eyebrows raised. "Really?"

"Yes! It even says so on the side of the cup, in super tiny Irken letters," Zib told him. "It's banned on thirty planets in one timeline, and in another it hasn't been banned at all."

"How do you know that?" Dib was genuinely curious.

Zib shrugged for the third time, avoiding eye contact. "I... just do," he said.

Dib decided not to question him. The duo stepped through the portal, to never return to the Zimvoid.

**Author's Note:**

> i was going to write more and then i realized i didn't know how to extend that. so there's your story i guess.


End file.
